New UAE investment law to boost GDP

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Dubai: The upcoming release of UAE Investment Law by the end of this year is expected to boost the UAE's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between three to four per cent, according to Sultan Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy.

On the sidelines of the Annual Investment Meeting 2014, Al Mansouri told Gulf News that the new law will enhance the overall investment and business environment across the UAE.

Major changes have been made in the new version of the Investment Law which will help the UAE markets become more favourable for foreign investments in most non-oil sectors, especially tourism, real estate and financial sectors, Al Mansouri said.

To boost the overall business environment, the UAE government intends to upgrade its legal infrastructure by revising tens of laws and regulations including a company law, an investment law, a bankruptcy law, a competitiveness law, an arbitration Law, and an intellectual property law, among others. ?

Legal infrastructure

Upgrading the legal infrastructure in the UAE is needed to cope with the current economic situation and to stand up to the market challenges according to the fundamentals of justice, he added.

Once implemented, the new laws would strengthen the legal infrastructure and boost the economy. This would encourage businessmen and investors to be more active and creative, he said.

We are expecting remarkable growth in the flow of FDI into the UAE by the issuance of this law with the aim of accelerating the diversification of the economy, he added.

He added that the UAE's overall GDP is expected to grow from 3.9 per cent in 2013 to 4.5 per cent in 2014. While Euler Hermes, a global credit insurance company, expects the UAE GDP to grow up to 4.7 per cent this year and up to 5.4 per cent after winning the bid for Expo 2020.

Al Mansouri said that non-oil sectors had the highest share of contribution to growth, where sectors like tourism, industry, finance, and trade were the biggest contributors.

This year, AIM is discussing the role of foreign direct investments (FDI) on the Arab and regional economies with a special focus on emerging markets.

Under the theme Investment Partnerships for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Frontier and Emerging Markets, the three-day event is expected to open new horizons for new direct investment opportunities across the UAE as well as in the region.